


13 Days of Halloween 2020 - Prompt 2 - Costumes/Masks

by Zelgadis55



Series: 13 Days of Halloween [3]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: 13 Days of Halloween Writing Challenge, 13daysoct20, Animal Transformation, Halloween, Halloween Challenge, Halloween Costumes, Horror, Prompt Fic, Transformation, Underage Drinking, allstories, tmnt13days
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:35:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27122597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zelgadis55/pseuds/Zelgadis55
Summary: Rating: T for occasional language and underage drinking.Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon.Summary: 2020 edition. 13 themes. 13 stories. 13 days of Halloween. Stories will be rated individually. '“Don,” Mikey wheezed desperately He hurt! “What's wrong?” “Someone... someone spiked the punch... I-I think it might've been some kind of poison.”' Mikey falls victim to a madman's machinations at a Halloween party.You do not have to read any previous stories to enjoy this one.
Series: 13 Days of Halloween [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978075
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	13 Days of Halloween 2020 - Prompt 2 - Costumes/Masks

**Author's Note:**

> As I stated previously, unfortunately, due to running out of time, this has not been edited to the extent I would normally do so. I apologise for that.
> 
> If you see anything that needs fixing, please don't hesitate to let me know. I really do like concrit as it helps me to improve.

** 13 Days of Halloween - Prompt 2 **

Costumes/Masks

“Come through! It's clear!”

Mikey opened the inner door to the shop and walked through, a friendly smile on his face like usual. “Hey, Ape!” he greeted cheerfully.

“Hi Mikey,” April replied, looking up briefly to smile back at him from where she was surrounded by boxes, chests and crates around her. “You're just in time to give me a hand moving this stuff. Where's the rest of the guys?”

“Scavenging run at the junkyard. Donnie had the sudden urge to go find... uh... something! Dunno what, I kinda zoned out as he was explaining,” Mikey laughed. “Leo and Raph went with him.”

“Oh? How come you didn't?” April asked in surprise. It was rare that all four brothers didn't go together.

“Wasn't allowed,” Mikey chuckled, coming over to peer curiously at the dusty containers surrounding his friend.

April straightened up, giving him that look he received far too often from his father and brothers. Unlike the one he often received from his brothers though, this one filled him with dread. April had become far too adept wielding that look.

“What did you do this time?” April asked sternly, “and should I even be allowing you to visit?”

“Wow!” Mikey laughed nervously, “I didn't do anything this time, I swear,” he quickly replied in a slightly mocking tone as he laid one hand on his heart dramatically. Anyone that knew him would have been totally wary but he didn't mind. It made it that much easier to feign innocence when he really needed to if people expected him to put on a show. His lips quirked up slightly.

“Uh-huh,” April replied, sounding wholly unimpressed. “So why then, pray tell, Michelangelo, weren't you allowed to go with your brothers this fine evening?”

Mikey turned to study an ornately carved wooden chest. It was quality carving and polished up it would be beautiful and probably go for a high price. “Slight little training accident,” he explained, emphasising how minuscule the accident was with his fingers almost pinched together.

“You pissed off Raph again?”

“Haha, no but I was sparring with him at the time.” Mikey then went on to explain how he'd been dodging an attack by flipping backward and doing a handspring, only for his hand to slip beneath him. April gazed at him sympathetically. “Turned out one of the pipes in the ceiling sprung a leak and none of us noticed. There wasn't much water there yet but it was enough to make me slip.”

“Oh no, are you alright?” April asked, looking critically at first one wrist then the other as if trying to work out which was injured. Mikey held out his left for her to see for herself.

“It's not bad, honestly, dudette. Donnie just wants me to take it easy a couple of days just in case,” Mikey assured her. “He wrapped my wrist wrappings a little tighter than usual and said no video games.” At that, Mikey blanched a little but truth be told, he hadn't even been interested in playing today so it was no biggie. He had other concerns on his mind, like what to do for a Halloween costume. His favourite holiday was coming up fast and he was stuck for inspiration. “I was also banned from going with my bros tonight just in case they ran into trouble. Here's fine though.”

“So I'm third prize then?” April joked, feigning a hurt look.

“Nuh, you're first prize,” Mikey grinned; he loved it when she joked back, something she didn't do as often when his brothers were around. “I wanted to come see you tonight anyway so this is a good excuse.”

April smiled at the compliment, despite the fact she probably thought he was buttering her up. “So I guess you giving me a hand is out then?”

“Depends on if you need two hands or if one is enough. Wouldn't wanna attract Dr Don's ire after all,” he chuckled. “I'd never see the light of day again!”

“Drama queen!” April teased.

Mikey grinned again. "You know it," he winked happily.

“Well, if we each take one side of a box or crate, one hand will probably work, for most of them at least,” April conceded, looking critically at the containers surrounding her. “I don't think they're too heavy, just too bulky for one. Help me carry them to the basement?”

“Sure,” Mikey agreed. “What's in them?”

“Don't know yet,” April admitted with a shrug. At Mikey's quizzical look, she explained. “I decided to take a chance on bidding for the contents of one of those abandoned storage lockers and this is what was in it.” She gave a sweeping gesture to the nine assorted boxes, crates and trunks surrounding her. “Everything was delivered a short while before you arrived and I need to get it all out of the shop to sort through it or it'll still be here opening time tomorrow.”

“Ooh! Do you think there's treasure?” Mikey asked, his interest piqued as he gazed at her prize eagerly.

“Doubt it,” April laughed, “but hopefully there's something to make my gamble worth it. Other than the nicely carved chest, that is.”

Mikey grinned, “All the fun and excitement of a junkyard run minus the smells, disgusting puddles of who knows what, dogs and errant Foot Soldiers or gang members. Count me in!”

April laughed again and between the two of them, they slowly relocated her score to the basement. There was an area of it separated from the laundry and secret sewer entrance that she used for storage and cleaning before resale. Mikey and his brothers often brought things they found there for her to sell, in part to help repay her and Casey for everything they did for them and in part to earn money for groceries. It was a great system and meant they didn't feel so bad relying on their human family for the things they couldn't scavenge themselves.

Once everything was downstairs, they started opening boxes and sorting through them. Mikey had a good eye for separating the junk from anything with selling potential and put it aside for April to later glance over before disposal. He'd been through three boxes so far, making light conversation and swallowing back his disappointment at finding nothing exciting within when a sudden scream from April had him jumping from his knees to his feet, automatically whipping out both sets of nunchaku. He then relaxed a little seeing April leaning back from the wooden chest she'd been going through and breathing heavily while gazing leerily into the bottom of it.

“Ape?” he asked cautiously, putting away his weapons and walking over only for her to suddenly laugh shakily.

“S-sorry, Mikey, I... it just looks so real!” she grimaced.

“What does? He peered over into the trunk and saw it. “Wow, yeah, that's...” Backing away again, he looked around and jogged over to the corner of the room to snatch up the broom. Then, flipping it upside down, he jabbed it into the bottom of the chest just in case.

April shot him a disbelieving look. “I think it's safe, Mikey. That storage locker was untouched and abandoned for months. There's no way a nest of snakes could have survived inside the bottom of a sealed chest for that long.”

“Yeah,” Mikey laughed as he returned the broom to its usual place. He then went back to April's side. “Still, you can't be too careful about these things, Ape. Do you think they're real?”

April shook her head as she studied it from a safe distance.”I hope not but no, I don't think so.” At Mikey's uncertain look, she continued, “The chest was full of costumes and costume props. It wouldn't make sense for it to be real.” Taking a deep breath to steel herself, she then reached into the trunk and gingerly lifted the coiled mass out, lifting it into the air to examine at arm's length. “It feels rubbery,” she added doubtfully.

“And yet it looks so real,” Mikey breathed in awe.

April nodded as Mikey knelt beside her. Then, pulling it closer, she turned it over to examine it better.

“It's a Medusa wig!” Mikey exclaimed, hope beginning to bubble within.

April gave him a sideways look and nodded. “Probably. Gorgon at least.”

“Gorgon?”

“That's what Medusa was, a gorgon. Medusa was the monster's name and she had siblings, also gorgons.”

Mikey reached over to take the wig for a closer look and April gladly handed it to him. After looking it over, he slipped it on his head and grinned. “It's a perfect fit, Ape!”

She shuddered as she looked at him. “That thing really does look like it'd come alive any moment now.”

Mikey jumped back to his feet and ran upstairs for the bathroom to take a look in the mirror. After admiring himself for a couple of minutes, he raced back downstairs to April.

“Can I borrow this for Halloween?” he burst out, brimming with excitement; he'd just found his costume idea!

April blinked at him.

“I've been trying to decide what to go to a party as and this'll be perfect! I can easily make a costume to go with it,” Mikey explained, all wide eyes and innocence. “Please? I promise I won't even use it to prank Leo with!”

“Why would you... no, never mind, I'm not sure I want to know.”

Mikey grinned, “Oh, Leo kinda has this thing about snakes, as we discovered last time we went to the farm.” April looked at him dubiously. “No biggie. I promise I'll give him fair warning about the wig.”

“Won't it make him uncomfortable to be around you on Halloween though?” April asked in concern.

“Nuh, Leo already said he's not coming topside this year. Something about being fed up with all the crazy stuff that goes down, especially since it'll also be a full moon this year. The last three years without full moons were bad enough.”

“But you're going anyway?”

“Shell yeah! It's the one day we don't have to worry about being seen, dudette and besides, I'm meeting up with Woody and Angel for that party I mentioned. You're welcome to come too if you like but Casey already said you guys had plans?”

April grimaced. “Yeah, unfortunately, we do but thanks for the offer. Hopefully next year.”

“Sure,” Mikey agreed happily. “So, about the wig?”

“Go ahead. Just _try_ not to break it.”

-:-

Mikey gaped around the garden in delight. An ethereal mist drifted lazily throughout, blowing on slow-moving fans. One section was decorated as if it were a graveyard with misshapen and chipped gravestones, animatronic skeletal hands rose from the dirt, wriggling and waving about, a creepy looking fairy circle made from poisonous-looking toadstools made up a dancing circle in the middle, cobwebs and giant fake spiders stretched from tree to tree as the mournful whine of the wind blew from speakers hidden among them and cardboard cutouts of witches and ghouls complimented gossamer ghosts all about as a soundtrack of classic Halloween songs played for the party-goers. People were dressed as all manner of things, from zombies to cats and witches, popular characters from games, comics and anime, even people dressed as food.

“This is _amazing!_ Thanks for inviting us, Woody!” Mikey exclaimed excitedly, turning eagerly to his friend. Angel nodded in agreement beside him, before sneezing yet again. She grimaced.

“It's really cool!” she agreed before sniffling and wrinkling her nose. “Too bad I didn't really think this costume through though. I've never left the city before so I didn't realise I'm allergic to straw.” Angel was dressed as a scarecrow, wearing blue overalls covered in orange, red and purple patches and Mikey thought she looked incredibly cute with her long purple hair pulled into pigtails with straw sticking haphazardly out from it. Straw also poked out from the patches, wrists and neckline of her costume.

He himself was dressed in a light beige loose-fitting, free-flowing linen cloth reminiscent of a toga, covered with a cape styled to look like a classic Greek character. The hems of his cape and toga were beautifully embroidered, it had taken him days of hard work getting that right, with a tasteful mixture of gold and purple threads. His skin was covered in a lighter green body paint with scales more prominent than his own etched in, especially on his face and back of hands and he wore a small set of fangs. Of course, the pièce de résistance was the borrowed wig of snakes. Leo had appropriately shuddered lightly at the sight but all his brothers congratulated him on his efforts.

Woody chuckled, “There's a pharmacy just down the road. I can pick up some allergy medicine for you if you like.” He was dressed as Mario, complete with a cushion stuffed down his front and a moustache drawn on with a sharpie and he spoke with an extremely unconvincing accent.

Angel shook her head wildly, the straw making rattling shushing sounds as it rubbed against other strands. “Nuh, we just got here. As long as it doesn't get worse, I'll be fine.”

The party was Woody's cousin's and to thank him for helping her organise it, had allowed Woody to invite some friends too, which is how Mikey was able to come. His brothers had been invited also but declined, citing other plans. Mikey knew Raph intended to take advantage of the rare chance to just be himself topside and left early, refusing to say where he was going – personally, Mikey would bet it was some nightclub or something similar that Leo would never approve of – but promising to keep his Shell-Cell on him. Leo already said he was staying home but then added he might go to Central Park for a bit and as for Donnie, while he normally enjoyed getting out on Halloween too, he was currently deep into some project and reluctant to leave home as a result.

The three friends greeted Woody's cousin who looked Mikey over with a friendly, yet knowing smile, commenting on his Medusa costume. “Gorgon,” Mikey cheerfully corrected as she shook her head at Woody's Mario outfit.

“Seriously, Cuz, you should have come dressed like that 'Toy Story' character, then everyone would actually remember your name for once,” she teased.

Woody pulled a face and just as cheerfully retorted, “Told you before I would only do that if you came as Jessie, Jessie.”

Mikey and Angel exchanged grins.

“So, do you have a matching James, Jessie?” Mikey asked, joining the cousins' easy bantering.

“Yeah, he's over there with our daughter, Meowth,” she grinned back. Then she left to greet more guests, leaving the three to mingle.

“Thanks for bringing us, dude! This party looks happening!”

-:-

The trio of friends danced and played Halloween games for hours, occasionally grazing at the themed buffet table and being introduced to several members of Woody's family and a few old friends of his and Mikey loved it! Especially upon finding out that Woody had told them all about him (well, not _quite_ all) and that they were glad to finally meet the mysterious friend Woody spoke so highly of.

Finally, as Woody was off talking with some of his other friends, Angel elbowed him in the side, a familiar rebellious glint in her eye. “You ever been drunk, Mikey?”

Mikey shook his head seriously. “Nuh, not exactly safe to drink considering my family's 'line of work'. Raph was once though and it was bad. Put me right off trying it myself.”

“Oh, yeah, I can see that. Hmm, have you ever at least tasted it?”

“Nope, thought about it though,” Mikey admitted, dreading where his rebel friend was going with this.

“Cause that old guy in the crazy scientist getup just spiked the punch at the alcohol-free table,” she whispered, surreptitiously pointing him out.

Wide-eyed, Mikey turned to see someone dressed as Doc Brown near the table. He had a wild-eyed look as he'd only seen Christopher Lloyd or Tom Baker manage but where it worked on them, on this guy, it only gave Mikey the creeps.

“I'm getting a cup, you want some too?” Angel asked, already making a beeline for the table.

Mikey reached out and snagged her arm, stopping her in her path. “You're underage, dudette!” Mikey whispered, horrified over having to be the responsible one but he had promised her brother Ryan to look out for her.

Angel pulled a face. Her nose wrinkled and she sneezed again. “Come on Mikey, just one cup!” she protested. “I'm not going to get drunk or Ryan'll never let me out again!”

Mikey stared at the 'Doc' for a moment, torn between doing the right thing and having some harmless fun. Then he sighed, seeing Angel pull his usual puppy-dog eyed look on him and realised how it felt to be manipulated so. “Lemme find out what the guy put in first, okay?”

“Okay,” Angel smiled brightly, knowing she'd won.

“Hey, Doc,” Mikey greeted cheerfully as he sauntered over to 'Doc Brown'. He made sure, despite the apparent lightness of his tone to keep a serious 'I mean business' look in his eye.

'Doc Brown' turned and looked Mikey up and down with a little too much interest. “Medusa, right?”

Mikey laughed, “Nuh, but close, gorgon.”

“I see the resemblance. Great job on the costume.” 'Doc Brown' said intently. “The party could use a little more excitement though, right?”

“Nuh, I think it's pretty great as it is. The atmosphere's way cool. So... what exactly did you add to the punch, Doc?”

The man paled slightly. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

Mikey thumbed back roughly in the direction of Angel. “We saw you spiking the punch, dude. What,” he asked again, emphasising the word, “did you add to it?”

'Doc Brown' sighed as he realised he'd been caught and reluctantly pulled out an empty bottle of vodka. When Mikey saw the alcohol content was low, he relaxed a little. At least one cup wasn't likely to get someone drunk and he'd already seen a bunch of people taking drinks from the bowl. Still, they had a separate, non-alcoholic section for a reason. Many of them, in fact, and it wasn't cool to trick unwitting people into drinking something they thought was safe. He said so. Then picked up the container and carried it to the twenty-one plus refreshment table before looking for their host to tell her. He didn't see her so he returned to Angel, telling her what it was and handing her a small cup only a quarter full.

“Just enough to taste, okay, dudette?” he warned.

Angel grinned before downing half and handing the rest to Mikey to try. He eyed it warily, remembering the time Raph got blitzed, then drank the remains, smacking his lips noisily afterwards.

“That's really good!”

“Right?” Angel asked. “So can we have more?”

“No,” Mikey laughed. “Sorry to be the party-pooping responsible one but I promised your bro, remember?” He looked around again, finally spotting Jessie within the crowd and jogged off towards her. As he came close, he began to feel weird. A fever-like heat coursed through his veins, making him feel strangely light-headed and weak. It felt as though the scaly skin on his head was shrinking, becoming tighter. Sounds were suddenly dramatically sharper, almost overwhelming in their intensity and his sense of smell suddenly cranked up to eleven as his fingers felt like they were trapped in a stretching rack.

“Are you alright, Mikey?” Jessie asked, oozing concern as she suddenly appeared in front of him, grasping him in a steadying grip.

“Y-yeah,” Mikey chattered, wincing as he accidentally bit his lip and why did his gums ache so much? “S-sorry, just suddenly feel a bit hot,” he smiled reassuringly.

“Sit down,” Jessie coaxed firmly, leading him to a nearby chair and helping him into it.

Mikey blinked blearily up at her, the colours of his vision sharpening weirdly. He shook his head to clear it. “Sorry,” he apologised again, grateful for her kindness.

Jessie smiled knowingly, “Did you have a little too much to drink? You're a little young, aren't you?”

“Nineteen and I only had one mouthful, just to taste it,” Mikey admitted sheepishly. “Um, th-that's actually what I wanted to talk to you about, dudette.”

Jessie quirked a disbelieving eyebrow at him but nodded. “Go on.”

“So, there's this dude dressed as Doc Brown, you know, from 'Back to the Future'?”

She nodded again, encouraging him to continue.

“Anyway, my friend Angel saw him spiking the non-alcoholic punch. I confronted him about it to find out what with and he admitted to pouring vodka in. I moved the bowl to the other table but thought I should let you know anyway.”

Jessie's expression hardened. “We have kids and recovering alcoholics at this party!” she swore. “'Doc Brown', you said?”

Mikey nodded, his head swimming with growing pain. “Yeah. Crazy-looking scientist type with crazy eyes and wild hair,” he confirmed faintly before she rushed away to confront the man and presumably kick him out. Suddenly, a horrible thought occurred to him.

What if...

What if it wasn't vodka the 'Doc' poured into the punch after all?

What if he'd only brought an empty bottle along to fool anyone that might catch him or... or he'd refilled it with something poisonous?

_And he'd given some to Angel!_

_And drunk it himself!_

Mikey jumped to his feet, desperate to get to his younger friend and lost all sense of balance, sprawling haphazardly over the ground.

Shakily, he struggled to reach for his Shell-cell and as his limbs ached and twitched, he dialled Donnie.

“ _What's up, Mikey?”_ Donnie asked distractedly the moment he answered the phone. _“Is it important because I'm right in the...”_

“Don,” Mikey wheezed desperately _He hurt!_ His insides felt as though they were on fire and if he didn't know better, he'd have felt certain they were shifting about inside of him, reforming somehow but that was stupid! His blood felt like it was boiling.

“ _Mikey?”_ Donnie repeated sharply, suddenly alert. _“What's wrong?”_

“Someone... someone spiked the punch... I-I think it might've been some kind of poison. I... I feel like I'm dying, bro and Angel drank some too!” he panicked breathlessly. Angel! That's right! He tried to look up to see her and gasped when a fresh wave of pain wracked his body, like thousands of needles in his skin. “Please... help...”

“ _Mikey? We're coming, okay? Get somewhere safe!”_

Mikey nodded faintly, forgetting that Donnie couldn't see him and the pain intensified yet again as a multitude of sharp objects suddenly pierced his skull, wriggling their way deep into his head.

-:-

He didn't know how long he was out for but when Mikey woke up again, he still felt a little lightheaded but otherwise, he felt much better, almost like a whole new person in fact, though he still felt highly weird. Worried about Angel, however, he quickly scrambled to his feet and looked around.

His vision was still off compared to normal and though the colours themselves were muted, everything was sharper and brighter. In fact, he could see so much more in the low party lighting that it kinda reminded him of looking through Donnie's infra-red goggles. The weirdest part, though, was the fact that his head felt top-heavy and as if the weight was constantly shifting. In his worry for his friend though, he instantly dismissed the sensation as aftereffects of whatever poison had coursed through him.

As he looked around, he realised the atmosphere of the party had changed. A strange vibe filled the air, along with what seemed like a combination of fear, curiosity and... delight? Mikey frowned, suddenly disturbed by how odd his mouth felt and he pushed his tongue around it, feeling it out. Then he froze and horror filled him as his tongue shifted several small, hard objects around. Disgusted by the feel, he spat them out into his hand and peered at them.

“No...” he whispered with a slight lisp as he stared at what appeared to be some of his teeth. “What the sshell?”

Frantic, he felt around his mouth again, only relaxing when he felt no gaps so... “Then where did thesse come from?” he wondered, feeling sick at the thought of someone deliberately violating his mouth while unconscious to plant them in there. He shuddered again and focused on looking around for Angel, even as he heard a growing intensity of hissing from behind. Frightened, Mikey whipped his head about, looking for whoever or whatever hissed and relief filled him as he suddenly saw his young friend. She was still standing near where he'd left her so he rushed over to her.

“Angel!” he cried in relief, trying to ignore how odd his voice sounded and his mouth felt. “Are you okay, dudette?”

Angel didn't answer him. She didn't even turn to face him. All she did was wobble frantically on the spot. As Mikey shifted around in front of her, he saw the panicked expression on her face. Mikey's jaw fell open in shock as he saw her mouth sewn closed with several large cross stitches.

He gasped and reached a clawed hand up to her face, stopping just shy of touching her. “Angel?” he asked again, looking her up and down worriedly. Whilst she still retained her general human features, making her recognisable, her head had taken on a woven cloth look, far more realistic than the simple weaving patterns applied with clever makeup. Her arms now looked like sticks with gloves stuffed with straw tied to the ends for hands and as for her legs...

Her legs were gone! Replaced by a single thick pole holding her upright and unable to move.

Angel had dressed as a scarecrow for the party and now actually looked the part for real!

Mikey felt sick all over again and met her terrified eyes. He opened his mouth to reassure her, to tell her everything would be alright and Donnie was on his way to fix this, when he felt an odd energy shoot through him, sparking from his eyes to hers.

He felt more than heard a strangled cry of terror and her panicking rocking completely stilled. Slowly, before his disbelieving, petrified gaze, her cloth, straw and wooden appearance greyed and became stone-like, leaving a statue wearing blue overalls with orange, purple and red patches covering it.

Mikey promptly turned and falling to his knees, threw up. For several minutes, he knelt there retching, unable to understand what happened, unsure he wanted to, desperate to find a way to fix this but somehow knowing it would be impossible and that it was all his fault!

 _He'd_ given her that drink.

_Him!_

He retched again, trying and failing to squeeze his eyes tight against the pain. He settled for covering them with his hands instead.

What was he supposed to tell Ryan or their grandmother?

“What happened, Mikester?” an Italian accented voice asked shakily as he felt an oversized hand rest on his shoulder.

The voice sounded familiar somehow but with the accent and his screaming mind, he couldn't place it. He forced himself to pull his hands away from his eyes and looked up, straight into Woody's warm but fearful gaze. As he opened his mouth to freak out at his appearance and to somehow explain Angel's transformation, he felt that strange energy surge from within again. Like Angel before him, Woody froze in place, the look of concern in his eyes replaced with one of fear as he too, morphed into a statue wearing an Italian plumber's clothing.

“N-no!” Mikey screamed, stumbling and falling backwards. He winced in pain as his fake claws scraped his leg in his scramble. Shaking, Mikey looked down in disbelief to see a line of blue, almost black blood-like liquid seeping from his wound and he shifted his terrified gaze to his hand.

The scales on it were deeper, larger, more pronounced than he'd etched, his fingers a little longer and thinner than he remembered and the fake claws he'd applied to his costume had given way to real ones. His breathing hitched in his throat.

“What the sshell is going on?” he rasped, wincing again as his tongue brushed against unusually sharper teeth. His hand flew up to his mouth and gingerly, he felt along his teeth, discovering them to be sharper and far more fang-like than he remembered and he shook his head wildly in denial, trying to ignore the solid, angry mass of small, scaly bodies whipping against the edges of his face, neck and shoulders. The constant hissing grew louder and it was all Mikey could do not to full-out panic at the thoughts coursing through his mind. His hands flew up to the wig on his head and he tried to rip it off, crying out in pain as it pulled at his skull, as the - he didn't want to admit it - snakes repeatedly struck at his hands, biting in fury.

A panicked and pained meow caught his attention, distracting him from his own fears and he looked over to see a woman dressed as a black cat on all fours, trying desperately to get back to her feet. As he watched, he saw her legs shrinking in size, reshaping and shifting position along her hips so she could no longer stand upright. His breath hitched as he saw her ears changing in shape and size to match those of a human-sized cat's as they slid slowly to the top of her head, knocking off the fake ears that had been perched there. Cardboard whiskers dropped from her face, making way for real ones growing from her cheeks. Mikey felt sick all over again but scrambled to his feet, determined to reassure and offer her comfort, even if he couldn't actually help her.

He stumbled over to her and reached out to take her hands comfortingly, only to feel them changing shape, becoming paw-like within his grasp.

“It'ss okay, you're not alone,” he murmured, his heart racing as he forced himself to sound calm and cheerful. “I-I'll help however I can, okay?”

Despite the woman's mewling cries of pain and terror as her body transformed on her, she turned grateful eyes up to Mikey. As he tried to smile through his new, sharper, painfully pointier teeth, her expression turned terrified as she, like Angel before her, like Woody before her, froze in place as the energy surged between them, leaving her a grey stone human-cat hybrid wearing only a bright green collar with a large silver bell.

Mikey yelped in horror. He'd only wanted to help! Instead, he sealed her fate just as he had his best friends.

Scrambling to his feet again, Mikey rubbed at the growing dampness in his eyes, sniffling and screwing up his mouth as it filled with a slightly salty taste much like tears. “What... what the sshell iss...” he hiccuped, “going on here?”

“The culmination of years of arcane and scientific study,” a familiar voice spoke up proudly from nearby. Straightening, Mikey turned to see 'Doc Brown' staring around in awe and a surge of anger filled him.

“It's fascinating, don't you think, my dear gorgon?”

“No!” Mikey cried in disgust. “Thiss iss... thiss iss ssick! How could you? What did you _do_? _Why_ would you _do_ this?”

The man's smile widened as he gazed around. “The book I found all those years ago is real. Magic is real. It's really real!”

Mikey just gawped at him in disbelief, unable to comprehend how the man could be so callous.

“It described a potion to bring about change. They say clothes maketh the man but this,” he swept his arm around the scene, “this must have been where the saying originated. The potion causes people to become what they're dressed as. Absolutely fascinating!” Mikey followed the man's gesture, feeling nauseous at the sights around him.

A giant-sized Pikachu pushed itself upright from where it had collapsed, looking around. In its confusion and having no control of its body, it accidentally electrocuted the Vaporeon by its side. Mikey watched in sick horror as the Vaporeon screamed, twitching spasmodically before it finally stopped moving. His horrified gaze moved on to see an oversized koi laying obviously dead on the grass near the graveyard. An overly-large but rapidly shrinking fairy took flight, voice tinkling like bells on the wind as it cried out in delight the moment it took flight for the first time. A zombie stared around, looking sick and hungry and Mikey realised the person, like him, like Woody and the cat after, still had their mind but the zombie was clearly fighting a losing battle against the base instincts of what they'd become. He swallowed his bile and faced the 'Doc' again.

“You've...” he accused in a hollow, lispy voice, “you've killed them! Ssome of thesse people can't ssurvive what they've become! You're a murderer! You've... you've made _me_ a murderer!” he cried as the realisation hit him. He'd essentially killed his friends and a random stranger he'd only been trying help. The fury burned in him, threatening to swallow him whole.

“The deaths are regrettable, of course, but now we know just what this potion is capable of,” 'Doc Brown' gushed in 'discovery excitement'. He turned to look at Mikey for the first time. “Just think of the...” Their eyes met and the now-familiar power surged. 'Doc Brown's' expression turned to fear and then resignation in a split second and he too turned to stone. A statue wearing clothing.

“No... no!” Mikey screamed. He didn't even know who this guy was! How would they find a way to reverse this now?

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a drunk at the punch bowl. He ran for it, knocking the person aside and reached for the bowl, intending to knock it over to tip out the contents when he froze, realisation hitting him. Sample! He needed a sample first! “Don't touch the punch,” he hissed at the Terminator cosplayer; the last thing they needed was a T-800 wandering around murdering people. He looked about frantically, spotting a half-empty bottle of coke nearby. Grabbing it, he twisted the lid off and poured out the contents before refilling it with punch. As he screwed the lid back on tightly, he caught sight of the 'Doc Brown' statue. Donnie would need a pure sample too, he realised. Mikey hurriedly tipped over the bowl and raced back to the 'Doc', relieved that the stone state only seemed to affect the flesh of each person and not the clothing they wore. Then he rifled through the former man's pockets until he found the empty vodka bottle. Not much left but hopefully, the remaining drops would do. Then he looked around again.

There were still plenty of people left. Most were too drunk to be aware of what was going on or were in the process of transforming themselves or... they were already transformed... He couldn't risk staying and turning anyone else to stone too so he couldn't wait for his brothers to arrive. He had to leave now.

Mikey turned to leave when he felt a hand clutching desperately at him.

“Please help me,” the person moaned. The words were barely intelligible and Mikey glanced back with only his peripheral vision, not daring to accidentally meet their eyes. It was the zombie he'd seen earlier.

“I can't,” he choked.

“Stone... please...” the zombie moaned again. Each word was harder to understand like the person was still changing and losing their ability to speak. “I... can't live like... can't... please...”

Mikey heard the desperation in their failing voice. “Are... are you ssure? Becausse...” his voice cracked; he didn't want to be responsible for killing anyone else tonight. Not like this. “I can't turn you back after.”

“Before... too late... plea...”

His heart broke and he found himself nodding, the weight of the hissing snakes bobbing against his neck. He tried not to shudder at the smooth, yet cool and solid touch.

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. Mikey turned to look at the zombie kindly, a smile as warm as he could make it on what he was sure was his now terrifying face. Tears threatened again as he saw the grateful look fill the young girl's eyes right as she turned to stone.

Then Mikey turned again, fleeing for the nearest sewer entrance.

-:-

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be continued in Prompt 12 - Don't Look Under the Bed.
> 
> My headcanon for Leo comes from an original 'toon series episode called 'Snakes Alive'. In the episode, Leonard has a paralysing fear of snakes but he manages to overcome it in order to save his brothers, though he still does not like them afterwards. Despite other versions not mentioning this fear, I still see other versions of Leo as having it, unlike his original 'toon incarnation, however, he just doesn't let it control him.
> 
> You can still join the fun for Halloween too! Writers and Artists are welcome and you can do as many or as few of the prompts as you like. For more information, look for sampsonknight on Deviant Art or tmnt-allstories{dot}tumblr{dot}com/ https://tmnt-allstories.tumblr.com/ The list of prompts is up and has been for about a month.


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